Labella urge Cebu City residents to skip countryside travels for now

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella. | file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The threat of the coronavirus disease remains even while Cebu City and the rest of Cebu province is now under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

To avoid the risk of the infection, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said it is best for Cebuanos to stay at home.

Labella also discourages any travels to parts of Cebu province for now, especially if these are intended for leisure.

“We are still under quarantine and staying at home is mandatory. When we mean by quarantine, it means we can only go out for necessary activities. I don’t think tourist spots are a necessity,” said the mayor. 

Labella’s recent statement was also in response to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia’s warning that city residents will not be welcomed in tourism sites in the province for now.

Garcia said that the rise in cases of the coronavirus disease in the province started in June after they relaxed border controls and allowed the travel of people to and from Cebu City.

The governor said that she will have to meet with mayors of the different cities and towns in the province to discuss their preparations before they start to welcome city residents into their respective tourism areas.

Labella said that Garcia’s recent pronouncement is reflective of a recent Executive Order (EO) which he signed to continue to restrict the movement of residents while the city remains under MGCQ.

The mayor said that he understands the sentiments of the provincial government.  In fact, this is one of his motivations for working harder to further reduce the number of active cases of the coronavirus disease here and prevent the prevent spread of the infection.

“We are in the middle of a pandemic. We cannot make promises that we will not cause another spread [of the infection]. We can only do our best to ensure that the spread of the virus is minimized,” said Labella. / dcb